


Reasons for Everything

by Pippinpaddleopsicopolis (Barnable)



Series: Together, We Are An Ocean [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Childhood Memories, Day One: Culture, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Sibling Rivalry, Southern Water Tribe, Water Siblings Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26553532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barnable/pseuds/Pippinpaddleopsicopolis
Summary: When their boyfriends come to visit, Sokka and Katara decide to share some traditional Water Tribe stories. The only problem? Katara is convinced Sokka doesn't remember them correctly, for an embarrassing reason only their family can confirm.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Hakoda & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Together, We Are An Ocean [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933663
Comments: 19
Kudos: 218
Collections: Water Siblings Week 2020





	Reasons for Everything

“So, tell me more about what it was like growing up here.”

Sokka shifted, pulling Zuko’s arms in closer around his waist. There were a lot of benefits to having the Fire Lord as your boyfriend, but one of his personal favorites was how warm he was in the cold. But, of course, he also asked a lot of questions, and at that point, Sokka was beginning to run out of answers. He glanced across the fire to Katara before he spoke.

“Like, how so?” he asked, lacing his fingers around his boyfriend’s.

“Like, everything!” It wasn’t Zuko who answered, but Aang, his own head resting in Katara’s lap. He had no problem lounging out in the snow, even if his clothes were halfway covered with the shining flakes. “That’s a great idea, Zuko. I want to learn _everything_ about your tribe. What do you eat here? Is it the same as it was a hundred years ago? How many sea prunes do you actually eat? Do you have any fun Water Tribe games? Or animals I haven’t met? What about—?”

“Okay, Aang, we get it.” Katara rolled her eyes, reaching down to pat Aang’s cheek jokingly. “Well, I can show you some of our games when it’s light out tomorrow, and maybe some more animals too? There are a _lot_ of fish around here, you’ll see something new, I’m sure. And we won’t make you eat any sea prunes. But it’s kind of late for anything big. Do you have any ideas, Sokka?”

“We could tell them some stories,” he suggested. Katara groaned when Zuko kissed the top of his head, and Sokka leaned back into his shoulder, but he paid it no mind. Yeah, Sokka knew she didn’t like the PDA, he just couldn’t be bothered to care. Especially not while _her_ boyfriend was lying on her lap. “Dad and Gran Gran told us hundreds of those growing up. I’m sure we have something we can tell.”

Generally, when Katara laughed at something he said, Sokka was either pleased or annoyed. He knew when he was or wasn’t making a joke and he knew exactly what response he wanted. But that time, he was just confused. Katara’s laughter made no obvious sense, the shaking of her head only causing Sokka to furrow his brow further. He glanced over to Zuko over his shoulder, then down to Aang, but both of them could only shrug.

“What?” Sokka threw his hands up questioningly, dragging Zuko’s along with him. “I’m serious! Aang has told us so many of the Air Nomad’s stories, what’s the problem with sharing some of ours? We have some pretty cool legends, if I do say so myself.”

“Do you really?” The pointed phrasing almost helped him to understand why she found the situation amusing, but not enough for him to be able to respond. “Sokka, I bet you can’t repeat _one_ story that Gran Gran told us. _Maybe_ you could piece together a few of Dad’s and even Mom’s but Gran Gran’s are lost to you.”

Again, his only response was confusion. Sokka shook his head slowly, trying to understand what she meant. Both of them had listened to all of Gran Gran’s stories and lessons growing up, so how was it that he wouldn’t know any of them? He sighed, watching his breath swirl around in the air before becoming lost to the fire, leaning back into Zuko’s shoulder before he spoke again.

“Katara, I know _all_ our tribe’s stories. Name any one of them and I could tell it like I’m reading from a book. What makes you think I wouldn’t know them?”

“Because you always fell asleep before the end!” Sokka gasped when Katara said the words, appalled at the accusation. “You could listen to Mom and you could listen to Dad but whenever Gran Gran tried to tell us the _real_ legends, you fell asleep. I don’t know why or if it was something to do with her voice being calming but you just dropped right out. Every time.”

“I did not!” He sat up suddenly, dragging Zuko along with him as he straightened his back. “Come on, Katara. I know how important storytelling is to our culture. I would _never_ fall asleep while Gran Gran was talking. That’s just wrong.”

“Hey, I’m not saying it’s your fault, I’m just saying it happened.”

“No, it didn’t!”

“Hey, babe, maybe you should just—” Zuko’s face went pink when Sokka whipped around to glare at him, and he nodded as he let out a breath. “Okay, yep. Got it. I’ll just keep my mouth shut then.”

“If you really don’t believe me, then why don’t we just go ask Dad and Gran Gran right now?” Already, Katara was rising to her feet, gently kissing Aang’s head when he rolled out of her lap. “I think they’ll be able to clear up all of this for us, and then, if you ask really nicely, maybe they’ll tell you the ends to all the stories you fell asleep for.”

“Katara, I swear, I’m going to—!” He cut himself off suddenly, turning around to kiss the tip of Zuko’s nose before he rose to his feet. “Okay, fine. I think we _should_ go talk to them. Then they can tell _you_ that I listened to every single story and every single legend and I know our tribe’s culture and history just as well as you do, if not better.”

She shook her head, letting out a huff as they both stormed off towards Gran Gran and their dad, leaving their baffled boyfriends behind. Sokka walked in the front almost all the way there but by the time Hakoda, Bato, and Kanna came into view, Katara was right at his side. They stomped right up to the adults, both crossing their arms and looking to them for answers before a word could be spoken.

“All right, who did what?” Of course, it was Hakoda who spoke, shifting his gaze between his kids as he waited for a response. They both opened their mouths at the same time, and he quickly held up a hand to silence them. “One at a time, please. Your Gran Gran’s ears aren’t what they used to be.”

He deserved every bit of the whack Kanna gave him over the head, giving Bato a look as if to say, _“You chose_ my _son?”_ Bato only shrugged, not giving Hakoda any sort of compassion. He walked right into it, and even Sokka knew that. Sokka also knew that he shouldn’t overstep his sister and glanced over to her before he started to speak, just to make sure she wouldn’t cut him off right away.

“Aang and Zuko wanted to know more about our culture,” he started, “so I offered to tell them some of our stories or our legends and Katara said I wouldn’t know any of them because I fell asleep every time Gran Gran told us a story. Obviously, that’s not true, but she insisted we come over here to fact check so I just need you to tell her that she’s wrong.”

“Actually, we’re here so you can tell _him_ that he’s wrong,” Katara corrected, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye. “I remember every story you told us, Gran Gran, and I remember Sokka falling asleep every night before the end. Admit it, Sokka. You’re a lightweight. Story time always makes you fall asleep.”

“Okay, just relax.” Again, Hakoda waved his arms around in a calming gesture, raising his brows slightly. “The thing is, you’re not wrong, Katara, but I think there are more layers to this than you’re considering.”

“Sokka fell asleep every story night, without fail.” Gran Gran barely shrugged when Hakoda turned to look at her, her tone firm and matter of fact. “He listened to most of the stories, but your dad had to carry him to bed every single time. You remember that, Katara.”

“Right, but the part they’re leaving out,” started Bato, glancing to the others, “is that the only reason Sokka fell asleep, was because he woke up two hours early every morning to help out your dad. He might have been a little kid, but he trained and worked like a warrior.”

Suddenly, Sokka didn’t know what to feel. At first, he was annoyed that he was wrong, and then he was embarrassed that he had to be carried to bed, and now, he just felt weird. He didn’t remember that at all. He knew he used to try and help out his dad, but he didn’t remember the extent to which he did it, or the way all that effort apparently affected the rest of his life. Rather than speaking at first, Sokka simply stared down to his shoes, shaking his head slowly.

“Is there something wrong with me?” he asked suddenly, unable to meet anyone’s gaze. “I mean— maybe Katara _is_ right. You guys have all these memories and I just have _nothing_. I remember maybe half of Gran Gran’s stories, I completely forgot about that thing with Dad, and I don’t even—”

He was going to say that he didn’t know what his mother looked like but somehow, that felt like a step too far. Sokka stopped himself from saying another word on the subject, just biting his lip and mumbling an apology for ruining a perfectly happy evening with his outburst. Not that it was necessary. It took one look around to realize that nobody was mad at him.

“How many of the stories do you remember really well, Sokka?” asked Hakoda softly, leaning forward. “You know which ones those are?”

Sokka was embarrassed to not know the answer. “No, I don’t— I don’t know. I feel like I remember some of them but if I really fell asleep before the end every time, then I guess I probably don’t even remember as many as I thought I did.”

“Okay, how about you go grab Aang and Zuko, bring them over here? I’m sure these two wouldn’t mind postponing our boring talks in favor of a good old story time. What do you think about that? They can hear some of our stories like you were saying, and you can have a little refresher. Would that help at all?”

“Yeah.” The fact that it took no time at all for his family to recognize how his heart sank was ridiculously touching, not to mention how quick his dad was to suggest a way to make him feel better. “That sounds good. I’ll just— I’ll go back over and tell Aang and Zuko.”

He was intending to walk back on his own, considering their friends weren’t too far away, but Katara didn’t let her brother go. Sokka continued to chew on his lip as they trudged through the snow, his eyes focused on the ground as he did his best to avoid his sister’s gaze. He didn’t want to talk about the fact that she was right, even if it was absolutely true.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by what I said,” Katara told him gently. Sokka only nodded in response, his gaze still fixed on his shoes. “You know that, right? I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad for not remembering, I just— those were good memories for me, you know? We’d sit there by the fire while Gran Gran told us stories and by the end, Dad would scoop us both into his arms to take us to bed. I wasn’t really asleep, but I pretended so he would carry me. They all knew.”

Sokka laughed, and it felt good. “It’s okay. But if you think I’m going to tell you that you were right, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I was, though. So, you don’t really have to say it. I already know it’s true.”

“Yeah, which is why I’m not going to give you the satisfaction.”

“Ooh, yeah, but see, this was already pretty satisfying for me, so…” Katara grinned when Sokka shoved her shoulder playfully, but it fell a moment later. “Hey, you remember what Gran Gran taught us about souls, right?”

“Of course, I do.” That was the one thing he would never forget. He couldn’t. Even if a lot of the crazy Avatar stuff they saw seemed bogus, there were some tales that gave him hope, and he didn’t want to lose them. He squeezed Katara’s hand with a mischievous look in his eye. “All right, I know you said games tomorrow, but as soon as we get back to the fire, it’s go time.”

“What?”

“Piggyback race. Me and Zuko versus you and Aang.”

“That’s not even a Water Tribe—!”

“Come on!”

Sokka didn’t give his sister a chance to refuse, and thankfully, she didn’t want to. Yeah, they looked a little silly carrying their boyfriends on their shoulders as they ran through the tribe, but it didn’t matter. They were happy. And as long as they had each other and the stories they’d learned so long ago, they always would be.


End file.
